Star Trek: The Next Generation

"Brothers"

Air date: 10/8/1990
Written by Rick Berman
Directed by Rob Bowman

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

The Enterprise races to a starbase to save the life of a young boy who has inadvertently eaten poison for reasons that ... well, are perhaps a little more contrived than they need to be. (I've always found the initial premise of the sick boy to be the episode's most obvious weak link.) This emergency is halted, however, when a homing signal in Data's brain is triggered and he takes over the ship, diverting it to a nearby planet. Data's takeover of the Enterprise is depicted with some memorable opening-act action that proves just how dangerous Data can be when his human qualities are disabled and he becomes, simply, an unstoppable machine. (His multi-dozen-digit lockout code of the computer — recorded in Picard's voice — is classic.)

"Brothers" is like "Family" with a plot. Coming on the heels of "Family," the thematic similarities are interesting, even if the storytelling method is completely different. (For one, we're dealing with the family roles surrounding an android who has no emotions; for another, we have a more traditional Trek structure, with action and plot.) When Data's conscious mind is reactivated, he finds himself in the lab of his creator, Dr. Noonien Soong, long believed to be dead. Not too long afterward, Lore walks through the door, having also followed the signal home (and proving that "Datalore" was merely the beginning of their arc). With both Soong and Lore, we get two surprises where we might've expected only one; the story brings the entire Soong "family" to one household to tell a tale we didn't envision when the hour began. In that telling Soong reveals he's dying.

Brent Spiner is superb in three roles of characters who are very different and yet vitally connected by the intimate history they share. We see here that Lore is not simply "evil," but a tragic victim of his own existence gone awry. No one is more regretful of that error than Soong, who would've liked nothing more than to fix Lore, if only he'd known he'd been reassembled, and if only there were enough time. Rather, Soong has brought Data here to give him the gift of basic emotions.

In the final act the story pulls the ol' switcheroo — which, I suppose, was inevitable — with Lore disabling Data and taking his place so that Soong installs the emotion chip in Lore's positronic brain. This seems to have the effect of making him even more unstable. The way Lore lashes out at his father makes you wince with sympathy; here's a man who had good intentions but felt forced to shut down Lore like a failed project, and that project now resents him for it. And now the father's failure for his first child prevents him from realizing his dreams for his second. (Note: No comments about B-4 will be entertained.) It may be with a sci-fi twist, but human feelings are still the point here. The message of the final scene all but guarantees Data and Lore will meet again, and seems to ponder what they might ultimately mean to each other.

42 comments on this review

The contrivance in "Brothers" that made the Enterprise's own sickbay
incapable of treating a parasite that lives in fruit, when we've seen
Beverly Crusher far more elaborate things...like reversing de-evolution and
cultivate a spinal cord from scratch, was just too ridiculous to accept.

Um, why didn't Brent Spiner get an Emmy for this episode? This was Brent
Spiner's finest performance on TNG on the same calibre as Patrick Stewart
in "The Inner Light". His triple performance is amazing.

The other incredible part is taking the rather lame evil twin idea from
"Datalore" and giving it some much needed depth. Lore, while an definitely
an evil character is given much needed motivation behind it--he's a child
who felt snubbed by his "father". And there's that brief moment where he
shows concern for Dr. Soong, when he's told he's dying. Is it an act? Who
knows. (Who says there was never ambiguity on TNG?)

But, one of the great things about TNG is how it didn't let things go to
waste like Star Trek: Voyager did so often. Tasha Yar's death in "Skin of
Evil" seems anti-climatic, but later would be used to give "Yesterday's
Enterprise" its dramatic power. The Ferengi were terrible adversaries, but
were revamped as comic relief foils (which worked in varying degrees). Q
went from a one dimensional omnipotent tormentor to one of the most
fascinating characters in the history of Star Trek. Here, "Datalore"
(which I consider to be a highly overrated and dumb episode) is improved
upon 10-fold with this follow-up story.

TNG was like the plains Indians and their used of the buffalo--very little
went to waste.

With his dual role with Lore, he's always top-notch. As a triple role with
Lore and Soong, he excels.

Patrick makes a good point as well - while TNG season 1 was bad, it was how
they relied on the early year's concepts and did something *better* with
them. Yar, the one Data beds (!!!) is referred to several times, and each
time she's referenced it's a home run.

With Lore and Soong, it's no different (though "Descent" would be the one
exception...)

The Soong/Lore subplot is a half-cliche (Seigfried from "Get Smart" had a
similar background, as would Darth Vader, Davros, and others - they all
would later use the same "I was abused as a kid so I will become the most
evil being in the universe, have pity on me now instead of before I wanted
to wreak havoc and we'd all be licking ice cream cones in perfect harmony
instead" trope... of course, everybody forgets that bit... trying to fix
problems before they begin...)

The story has some conveniences but so much more makes the whole story that
much better in the end. "Chain of Command" would be similar in that
regard; contrivances that can be overlooked because the overall effect was
a success.

I'm really playing devil's advocate here but: in season 7's "Inheritance",
Data's "mother" mentions that there were three androids before Lore and
Data, so....B-4 *could* have been one of those aforementioned
Soong-prototypes. It's too bad Star Trek: Nemesis was such a sloppily made
movie, that they could have used a throwaway line that made B-4's existence
seem less convoluted.

@Patrick D: 'Inheritance' does lay some groundwork for B4. But how would
Shinzon have found him? Granted, the "perfect cloak" would have let him get
to Omicron Theta. But didn't the Enterprise crew in "Datalore" look through
the lab and what was left of the colony pretty thoroughly? Is it really
plausible that B4 was just left in Soong's lab?

It seems to me that it might have been more interesting if Shinzon's people
built B4 using Soong's work. The fact that B4 was less advanced could have
been chalked up to the fact that Shinzon's people were just parroting
Soong's work. The difficulty in building Soong-type androids had been
established already.

The dramatic payoff would have been better, too. Just like Shinzon was an
imperfect Romulan adaptation of a human/Federation individual, so would
have been a (renamed) B4.

In Star Trek Nemesis, it was never clearly explained how Shinzon got B-4,
nor did it explain clearly where the Romulans procured Picard's DNA either.
Writer, John Logan didn't feel it was necessary to fill in those little
cracks.

But, back to "Brothers"--the much maligned Rick Berman wrote this episode
and it's fantastic!

Yeah, Dr. Soong does not come off this episode very well -- the primary
reason that his scenes alone with Data come off as sweet as they do is
because Soong has ensured that Data doesn't remember how he got there, and
so doesn't actually realize that Soong's call has done actual damage.
SFDebris' review of the episode has a really neat argument about Data as
Soong's "good" half and Lore as Soong's "evil" half, and I think that gets
at how the episode characterizes Soong (a complicated man with lots of good
and lots of bad) very well.

Actually, in a big way I think that we are meant to recognize that Soong is
something of a tragic figure -- "deserves" would be going too far, maybe,
but he certainly brings Lore's killing him on himself. Data is the
culmination of Soong's dream (well, apparently; it turns out in
"Inheritance" that Juliana is the actual culmination of his dream, which is
itself a creepy matter), but in the process of getting to Data he made Lore
and his recklessness in creating and discarding Lore is the cause of the
deaths of everyone on Omicron Theta. That he brings Data there and doesn't
bother to give Data his memory back right away, so he can continue
controlling him perhaps!, is a sign that his dark, myopic side is still
present.

Um....I don't like this episode. It was pretty dull, actually. Also, I
find it really irresponsible of Dr. Soong to cause Data to go to his home
by any means possible. Had the Enterprise been in danger when Data's mind
went, lots of people could have died. Dr. Soong doesn't have the right to
screw up the doings of a starship on his own personal whims, and it really
spoils the "family" nature that this episode was trying to convey.

Also, I found a lot of the dialogue about human nature to be inane and
simplistic. Meh.

This is what Datalore should have been. We have the crew actually being
competent in dealing with an evil Data. And we have Lore as a real
character, rather than a mustache twisting villain.

In fact, it really is Lore that saves the episode. Data and daddy talking
to each other? Well, that's going to feel rather formulaic and
feel-goodish. Don't get me wrong, their scenes together are very good, but
of course it's what we expect. Of course Data is going to ask why he was
created, of course Soong wishes Data became a cyberneticist (hey, no
mention of Lal?). But Lore, wow... We see a bit of why he's an evil jerk;
he's really pissed off about the whole being deactivated thing. And more
importantly, he has severe insecurity issues. He wasn't just the unloved
older brother, he was the deactivated and ignored brother. Soong created
him and tossed him aside to try to figure out his problems with a new
model. Essentially, he treated Lore like a machine. Ouch...

As an aside, Data seems to have some insecurity issues too. See Peak
Performance. Also, his "I am not less perfect than Lore" mantra. Seems to
be a personality quirk in Soong androids... Anywho, Lore and Soong's
argument was very well done, and frankly with Soong coming off as the wrong
one. Not bad when you already have a reason to think Lore's a jerk. So
with a bit more justification for his actions, we're not too surprised when
he's goes crazy murderous again. And his ultimate plan, to get "fixed" via
obtaining the emotion chip that, of course, Soong made for the perfect son
and didn't even bother trying to make for him, makes perfect sense based on
what we've seen.

On the other hand, the kids subplot was a bit... off. I don't mind it;
it's nice to see the civilian side of the ship. And with a name like
"Brothers", there is an attempt to link the two stories together. But how?
Bev seems to provide the moral of the story by saying that brothers
forgive each other. But how does that apply to Data and Lore? Lore
started to seem more understandable over the course of the story, only to
pull the ole' knocking out Data and taking his place trick again. Not to
mention possibly hastening Soong's death by tossing him around like a rag
doll. At this point, Lore is essentially unredeemable. Why should Data
forgive him when he has shown no sign of remorse for his actions? Brothers
may forgive, but it requires some reciprocity on the part of the aggressive
brother. Sigh...

I agree with the rating. Masterful performance by Brent Spiner. Am I the
only one who hadn't noticed that he played Soong?

The episode does leave a lot of questions unanswered. First, there's the
question of Soong's call to Data. I have no problems imagining that a
selfish old man would program a simple homing beacon without thinking about
the consequences, but there should ideally have been some sort of
reflection about the morality of doing that. Alright, that would probably
require a double episode, so I can see why they left that out. It's
probably also why we don't see them helping Soong at the end. They just
left the old man injured in his home. No one would do that.

@SkepticalMI " At this point, Lore is essentially unredeemable. Why should
Data forgive him when he has shown no sign of remorse for his actions?
Brothers may forgive, but it requires some reciprocity on the part of the
aggressive brother. Sigh... " I thought that Beverley's line about
forgiveness might be foreshadowing a future episode where Data has a good
reason to forgive Lore.

Obvious gripe: The subplot with the boy who ate poison was weak and cloying
- I would have much preferred the old standby cliche of "We need to get
medicine to the colony of the week within X hours or else", however old
that plot device is.

Setting that aside, every other element was pitch-perfect. Data's takeover
of the Enterprise was classic, especially when he started making commands
in Picard's voice and issued the bridge lockout code so fast the computer
couldn't keep up. Picard's irritated attitude towards being locked out of
his own ship, and angry face when the computer wouldn't even tell him how
long to the starbase was priceless.

Lore was a good addition to the story, and I still find it hard to believe
that Dr. Soong was played by Brent Spiner as well. How Spiner was able to
portray three different characters all in one episode is pretty amazing. I
saw the 'switcheroo' coming the instant Dr. Soong said he needed to rest,
but that didn't make it any less heartbreaking once Soong realized his
mistake.

Regarding B-4, there was a (non-canon) short story written that explained
how Shinzon got B-4, called "Twilight's Wrath", but that story does raise a
set of questions in of itself. (Spoilers - Basically, according to the
story, Shinzon was tasked with destroying a Tal Shiar lab during the
Dominion War, where he discovered B-4 there and appropriated him before
completing his mission.)

It was OK but I thought Lore seemed mostly insincere while the writers were
trying to make him more sympathetic and I also didn't buy that Data
wouldn't give back control of the ship even after he beamed to the planet.

I love this episode, the build up as Data takes over the ship is intense
and well put together. But has anyone else noticed the knowing 'nod' Data
and Picard share just as they clear the bridge? Everytime i see this
episode i wonder about it. When i first saw it, i presumed this 'nod'
implied Picard was 'in' on whatever was about to take place. But its clear
he isnt. Saw it again the other night, and theres also a 'nod' between Data
and Riker just before Picards 'nod'. Bizarre!!! Im guessing its a 'meet you
in engineering in a minute' type acknowledgement but im still not sure.
Even Mrs Todayshorse noted it, i paused and rewound my tivo box to better
grasp whats going on. Maybe its nothing! Still, brilliantly done, and as a
few others noted i didnt even realise Spiner played Doctor Soong until more
recent times. Its one i can watch over and over whenever its aired. 4 stars
from me easily.

"They're brothers Data, brothers forgive". Picard's face also changes
to one of deep thought. Anyone ever try to guess why? I always find that
scene very subtle because everyone is focused on Data's face but it's
obvious that statement moved Picard as well.

Magnificent performances by Brent Spiner, good action, a wonderful way to
bring Lore back into the mix and a generally all-around engaging story -
what isn't to love about "Brothers"?

Well, like Jammer says, the subplot with the two kids on the Enterprise.
It was so unnecessary and is only relevant in one scene, the final one with
Crusher's line of "brothers forgive." I would have much more preferred
there to be no ticking-clock plot on the Enterprise at all. Data just
commandeers the ship and they have to regain control, simple. Instead the
episode expects me to emotionally invest in the fates of two characters
that I (sad to say) simply do not care about. This plot does nothing but
take time away from the much more engaging and interesting story of Data,
Soong and Lore. Quite frankly, I would rather watch Data do more tricks
for Soong, like when he pats his head and rubs his stomach.

There's also the fact that Data literally receives no punishment for what
he did here, not even a reprimand. Granted, there were extenuating
circumstances, but not even a reproach from Picard?! He just says "to hell
with it" and wrests control of the flagship of Starfleet away from its
legitimate authority and all he gets is a "we'll discuss it later" from
Riker? That really strains credibility.

However, the one thing I love about this episode above all is that the
writers are willing to take ideas from Season One and actually make them
work. The first two seasons are so horrendously bad that it would have so
easy for the writers at this point to simply throw up their hands and say
"you know what, you're right, those seasons suck, so we're just going to
pretend that they didn't happen and kind of reboot the show." And,
honestly, I probably wouldn't have blamed them if they had. But, instead,
the writers rolled up their shelves and did the hard work of making those
concepts enjoyable. They could have just never brought back Lore, or never
did anything with Tasha Yar again, or jettisoned Picard's love for the
Dixon Hill stories or not bothered to further develop the Borg. They
eventually go so far as to tie the final episode of the series back into
the first (that's certainly something "Voyager" refused to do). I have to
give them massive credit for doing that.

Having missed Data last episode this is clearly a "Family" for the
android.

However, I enjoyed this much less than many others it seems. To me, I was
unable to get past Brent Spiner as Soong - the unconvincing make up,
mannerisms etc made it seem less of a virtuoso acting performance than a
set of verbal ticks. Add that to Lore's scenery chewing and it seemed
gimmicky rather than organic.

The lack of emotion generated by the conclusion - in comparison say to the
almost exact same set up with Lal in "The Offspring" - is also notable.

Yes there are indeed some compelling scenes - the first act as Data takes
control of the Enterprise is engrossing. But for me the lack of any true
emotional connection is difficult to get beyond. And even where a hit was
made in Lore's difficulty coming to terms with his deactivation, he then
instantly reverts back to mustache-twirling villain mode.

And the less said about the little Willie in peril sub-plot the better - as
a contrivance to drive the story to a deadline it's unnecessary. The "giant
snowflake" description of the crystal entity is a knowing in-joke though.
2.5 stars.

Really not getting this one. I definitely wouldn't rank it above
"Family".

Contrivances abound. Don't want to nitpick, but how about the central
premise: Dr. Soong and Lore *both* mysteriously survived their apparent
deaths. How did they each escape the Crystalline Entity? What has Dr.
Soong been doing for 31 years*? How could he resist interacting with Data,
the culmination of his life's work (and why not just take Data with him)?
The few nods we get towards these questions are unsatisfying. Later
episodes might attempt to address them, but that's too late to help this
one.

A couple of other big things that are really hard to swallow:

- I get that Data is in a position of trust on the Enterprise, and has some
unique skills, but, come on: all it takes to take over control of the ship
is mimicking Picard's voice? No passwords? (Love how Picard gets back to
the bridge and is like, "what, somebody put a *password* on my account?!")
No biometrics? No "root" account that Picard can use as a back door?
Starfleet: your security policies need work.

- Dr. Soong, Data's creator and one of the foremost minds of his age, gets
hurt, says "No, I don't want to go to your ship," and so they just leave
him there to die. I get that there was some (manufactured) urgency. But
couldn't they at least leave a nurse behind to take care of him? Did he
really have an incurable disease, or is this more like the half-dozen other
cases in which the Enterprise shows up and is like, "Oh, that -- it's
nothing. Give us a week and you'll be right as rain"?

All that aside, the point here is to contemplate the nature of Data's
"family". It's nice for him to get to meet his father/creator, and vice
versa; and there's an interesting dynamic where Lore feels hurt because he
was abandoned (kind of reminds me of Toy Story 3). But in order to really
appreciate those exchanges, we need to understand and empathize with Soong,
and, frankly, that's really hard when almost everything about him is a
mystery.

And for Lore/Data, I'm not sure what we're supposed to take away. Data
doesn't trust him, has good reason not to, and ends the episode continuing
to not trust him, with even more reason not to. The "brothers forgive"
line rings hollow when there's really nothing here for Data to do -- how
would a forgiving Data act differently than this one? Does it even make
sense, when he is (maybe?) incapable of holding a grudge? If you want
character growth for Data, look for it in "The Offspring" or "The Most
Toys". It's a shame neither gets any mention here.

This isn't to say it's horrible, but it's not one of the great episodes.
More like a 2.5 for me, too.

(*After 31 years, I'd really hope Soong would have solved the inability to
backup/reproduce his androids' brains, but alas, apparently not.)

This is explicitly explained in the episode. Soong, being somewhat of a
recluse, liked to keep an escape route ready just in case. Lore was found
by Pakled traders. If you've seen "Samaritan Snare" you will understand
that Pakled are obsessed with high-tech trash and go to great lengths to
steal used technology. I'm not sure how you can dismiss these explanations
as "nods" when they're fairly detailed.

"all it takes to take over control of the ship is mimicking Picard's voice?
No passwords?"

Data's third in command of the ship too, such that if Picard or Riker were
ever lost, the computer would recognize him as an executive officer of the
ship, capable of initiating lockouts (See Riker in "Rascals"). Also, Data
is a sophisticated computer and knows how the Enterprise's systems work.
There is no full-proof security system, and clearly whoever designed the
Enterprise didn't calculate for an out-of-control Android CO.

"The "brothers forgive" line rings hollow when there's really nothing here
for Data to do."

Data could forgive Lore over time for taking his chip away from him. Lore
did have a somewhat legitimate gripe with his father, after all. Mind you,
I'm not saying Data *should* forgive Lore, but the idea that "time heals
all wounds" is likely a human concept, and this point at least furthers
Data's understanding of humanity.

Soong said he had an "escape rout", but didn't describe what it was, or how
it enabled him to escape when everybody else was killed, or how it led to
him leaving Data behind.

Lore said he was found by traders, but didn't explain why he was floating
through space in the first place. In "Datalore", Lore is transported into
space, as "food" for the Crystalline Entity. Wesley says he is "gone
permanently". The Crystalline Entity then floats away, because "without
Lore, it had no way to reach us." What we're supposed to believe, I guess,
is that either i) Lore was just sitting there in space, the Crystalline
Entity ignored him, and the Enterprise didn't bother to either fully
destroy him or recover and disassemble him; or ii) the Crystalline Entity,
rather than destroying him, carried him away for unspecified reasons, but
then abandoned him in space somewhere.

Does it really matter precisely what Soong's escape route was? In
"Inheritance", we learn that there was an escape shuttle, which doesn't
seem out of the question for a man of science to keep around.

As for Lore surviving the crystalline entity, we know from "Silicon Avatar"
that the entity is capable of communication and quite possibly can be
reasoned with. Since Lore helped the entity, it probably spared his life,
or in a worst case scenario drained his energy and let his pieces float in
space.

And Wesley saying Lore is gone...seriously? Can we really trust Wesley as a
reliable narrator? It's not like Wesley went to the sensors and attempted
to track down Lore either. It was just a big assumption on his part, and he
was a kid in shock so maybe that's forgivable.

Episodes like this one (the other primary offender being the otherwise
phenomenal "Remember Me", in which Beverly runs the entire ship by giving
orders to the computer) really make me wonder why Starfleet puts over a
thousand people - including families! - aboard a dangerous ship that comes
perilously close to getting blown up once a week. The Enterprise obviously
doesn't need them. "Brothers" is proof that one officer can not only manage
the ship's affairs by himself, but he can do it while simultaneously
fending off active resistance by an annoyed legitimate bridge crew. And if
it's only Data who's so competent (at least Beverly didn't have a hostile
onboard presence with which to contend), shouldn't at least he just be
given his own ship? As in, a spacecraft whose entire "crew" consists of
only him? He has no need of life support systems, he doesn't suffer from
loneliness, and he can obviously captain a ship so well by himself that an
entire trained Starfleet crew is powerless to unseat him. Making him work
with others seems like a waste of his talents after seeing this.

But I don't want to appear negative on the episode. Fantastic story (save
for the painfully contrived "sick little boy" subplot), and positively
godly acting from Brent Spiner. It's a shame this is the only time in the
series we get to see Dr. Soong outside of holograms and dream sequences.
Top notch!

@Nesendrea: "really make me wonder why Starfleet puts over a thousand
people - including families! - aboard a dangerous ship that comes
perilously close to getting blown up once a week."

You sound just like my daughter! She's had this argument with me for years
now. 'Why would they put families (and babies) on a ship that's always in
danger?' My counter is always that space is a dangerous thing and that's
just where these people work. Kind of like a family in the DMZ, but
obviously with a lot more action.

"And if it's only Data who's so competent (at least Beverly didn't have a
hostile onboard presence with which to contend), shouldn't at least he just
be given his own ship? As in, a spacecraft whose entire "crew" consists of
only him?"

There was a good episode where they had to expand the fleet and temporarily
gave Data the Sutherland (I think that's the ship). In it, he butted heads
with many of the crew. I wonder if most of Starfleet sort of secretly holds
a bias towards him which is why he never got his own ship full time. Also I
don't think they'd ever even give him his own personal small ship /
runabout class because they might not trust him without human counterparts
to 'keep an eye on him'. Which is total crap when you consider that Data
totally took out the Enterprise is about 10 minutes at the start of this
very episode and none of the crew could stop him anyway.

As even stated in Remember Me, the primary purpose of the Enterprise is
exploration, along with diplomacy, aid, scientific research, defense, etc.
Certainly risking families the way they do is an issue, though I think the
idea is still that it's a calculated risk for most family members and life
on starships may be safer than on colonies. But even if a single crew
member can run the ship, in ordinary circumstances (Beverly could probably
not stop a warp core beach), they couldn't do anything else. The Enterprise
is like CERN and a military base and embassy and aid station all in one
moving package, and the purpose of the ship is for these functions to be
served by the crew.

On the issue of Data commanding a ship solo, that would be possible (not on
the Enterprise with its mission, but maybe on a different ship) but I think
it would depend on Data. Data does actually want to be around people, even
if he does not suffer "psychologically" from loneliness acutely the way
most humans (and presumably most humanoids) do. Starfleet probably avoids
putting individuals alone mostly for psychological reasons and post The
Measure of a Man, Data could presumably appeal putting him on a ship alone
because he's an android as discriminatory if he does not want to do that
mission.

Have to disagree with Jammer here. Jammer clearly preferred this over
Family, calling this Family with a plot. I completely disagree that Family
doesn't have a plot but that's a different argument.

Family allowed me to get emotionally invested and be genuinely moved by
Picard's plight. There is no such emotional investiture in this as Data is
under remote control for the first 15 minutes, then he is out of play and
been doubled by Lore for the final 10. This feels more like set up for
Descent. Yes Brent Spiner does an admirable job playing the three roles all
very distinctly, yet I find the episode a bit on the dull side. The side
story with the two kids is boring and filler, just there to add a ticking
clock. And once Lore turns up, the story becomes very predictable. Also the
problem with having the same actor play all three parts, the dialogue
between them becomes very stilted and obviously you can't build a chemistry
between characters when each part is filmed seperately.

Good episode, but not great.... and no-where near the same league as Family
- 2.5 stars.

“Oh, Lore. Uh… how did you know I was here? No, no— I totes would
have invited you too, if I’d realized you weren’t still stuffed in a
box unconscious the way I left you. And had intended to leave you forever.

How are those dark and twisted emotions going, by the way? Still
malevolently jealous and ambitious? Perfect, perfect— you should
definitely stay and listen to the conversation I plan to have with
Data.”

“Oh, Data— don’t be silly, with all that ‘Lore is evil and we
should be afraid of him’ stuff. I can’t imagine where you’d get that
from— except the detailed story you just told me, which I’m going to
disregard. What’s that, Lore told you the villagers hated hated him
because he was 'too human'? No, they thought he was evil and were afraid
of him. No idea why everyone keeps thinking that. Except for all those
reasons that led me to deactivate him.”

“Lore, what do you mean you think I love Data more? I love you both
equally! Now, Data, I have a gift that’s only for you and not for Lore.
It’s really quick and easy to install but I’m gonna let you both think
about the disparity while I go have a nap, first."

Like, come on, man. Also, the pain factor of the writers inventing a
precious 'emotions' chip for the *sole purpose* of having it ripped out of
Data's hands in the same episode... foul play. I can't even bring myself
to re-watch past the family reunion scene.

I don't see how the events of this episode didn't result in Data
immediately being removed from his position on the bridge and sent back to
a Starfleet research facility to ensure this never happens again.

If his brain is able to be hacked into, it's a huge security risk even
having him on board.

If that's the case, then every damn member of the bridge crew should be
sent back to a Starfleet research facility, because they've all been
possessed and/or mentally compromised at one point or another, with certain
crew members practically making a habit of it. I'm looking at you, Troi.

People always bring up how much of a security risk Data is, but how many
times has he saved the ship because he's an android? Just off the top of my
head "Clues", "The Game", "Cause and Effect", "Timescape" and I'm sure many
others I can't keep track of. Considering this, if you were a captain of
starship, would you seriously refuse to have Data in your crew?

So this is "Family" for Data after BoBW -- more of a story in some ways
than "Family" since it actually has a plot due to Lore's appearance but
somewhat less satisfying emotionally since we don't have a history on Soong
who seems to be brilliant but dodgy and the family theme just doesn't work
here.

What I liked was that it followed up on "Datalore" and it was good to see
the character of Lore again. Spiner's flexibility in acting is great (Data
is my favorite character on TNG) but I don't think he did anything special
in acting for Soong. It's more the Lore character that I like Spiner
playing.

What was also compelling is how Data takes over the Enterprise --
impersonating Picard is probably meant to provide flexibility in case the
captain is MIA but here Data uses it to his advantage. It was cool how he
set up the moving force fields as he went to the transporter.

What I didn't like was the subplot of the 2 boys. If it's just for
Crusher's line at the end of forgiveness, that wouldn't apply between Data
and Lore given what took place on the planet. So as for proving the
"ticking-clock" element, that's about all it does but it's hardly
compelling.

Also, the Soong/Data interaction was not anything particularly enthralling
but getting some background on why Lore turned out to be "evil" was -- and
seeing Soong's regret is understandable giving that he's dying. And in the
end the Enterprise crew (at his request) just leave him there to die?

For me, "Brothers" gets 2.5 stars -- definitely not a great episode but a
decent one. The "emotional" part of it didn't work for me and overall
wasn't a very compelling episode. But I guess the arc with Data and Lore
has more to come...

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